Zhu Benduan met Liu Jin more than ten years ago. Liu Jin left a deep impression on him. His handsome appearance, gentle temperament, approachability, and profound knowledge gave him the impression that he was a humble gentleman and as gentle as jade.
Zhu Benduan immediately remembered Liu Da at the first sight of Liu Da in front of him because he looked almost exactly the same.
"Good nephew~"
Zhu Benduan walked in and shouted with a smile as soon as he entered the door.
"Liu Da has met Uncle Zhu!"
When Liu Da heard this, he quickly stood up and saluted as a junior.
"No need to be too polite, no need to be too polite."
Zhu Benduan said quickly, then looked at Liu Da and said, "I haven't seen Mr. Liu for many years. Meeting my nephew today is like meeting Mr. Liu. You and Mr. Liu look so similar, they are exactly the same."
"I do look more like my father."
Liu Da also nodded and said.
"It's true, Mr. Liu, that my nephew came to the West without even telling me. I am not prepared for you to arrive in Ceylon."
The two parties sat down separately, and Zhu Benduan chatted with Liu Da with a smile on his face.
"Uncle, you are so polite. You are the Governor of Ceylon and you are in charge of the Western United Trading Company. You are very busy with your affairs. It is a great honor for me to take the time to see me."
Liu Da's visit to Zhu Benduan this time naturally had a purpose.
On the one hand, Liu Jin has some words to pass on to Zhu Benduan, and on the other hand, he will be in charge of the South African colony in the future. This naturally requires establishing good relations with some large colonies and vassal states, not only the Governor of Ceylon, but also Ning Ning in the future. King Wang, King Chu, King Shu and other vassal kings also want to pay a visit.
Getting acquainted with them will also help you understand the situation in each colony. In this way, you will have a deeper understanding of the South African colony, which will also be beneficial to managing the South African colony in the future.
After some pleasantries.
"My nephew came to Ceylon this time. I wonder if there is something going on?"
"As long as I can help, please feel free to ask. Mr. Liu and I have been friends for many years, and we often exchange letters."
Zhu Benduan looked at Liu Da in front of him and tentatively asked him about the purpose of coming here. Liu Jin would not send his precious son to the West thousands of miles away for no reason. There must be something going on.
"I am going to South Africa this time and happened to pass through Ceylon, so I am planning to rest here for a few days."
"That's why I came here to visit you."
Liu Da replied with a smile.
"Go to South Africa."
After hearing this, Zhu Benduan felt a little more relieved.
"South Africa is a good place. Among the overseas colonies of the Ming Dynasty, the vassal states are the best and fastest developed in South Africa. The other colonies and vassal states have basically entered a state of stagnation."
Zhu Benduan thought for a moment and then said with a smile.
"Oh, what the hell is going on?"
"While I was in the capital, I heard that our Ming Dynasty has hundreds of colonies and vassal states, large and small, but they are developing rapidly and are likely to surpass our own Ming Dynasty."
"The Western United Trading Company that you are in charge of is developing rapidly. The city of Ceylon is already comparable to our big cities of Tianjin and Songhu. Every year, the Western United Trading Company can distribute hundreds of millions of taels of dividends to shareholders. "
"In addition, there is the Ning Kingdom of King Ning. It has a vast territory, a large population, and rapid development. The slaves of Ning Kingdom are famous all over the world."
When Liu Da heard this, he immediately said doubtfully.
On the way here, I heard a lot about the various colonies. When I arrived on the island of Ceylon, I also saw the prosperity, excitement and hustle and bustle of the city of Ceylon.
However, Zhu Benduan actually said that the development of various colonies and vassal states, except for the South African colony, has begun to stagnate.
This is very surprising.
"You have been in the capital, and you may not know much about the various colonies and vassal states. What you have heard is only limited to the rumors. In fact, the development of the major colonies is indeed getting slower and slower, and has even begun.
It’s hard to develop.”
Zhu Benduan sighed and said: "As far as our Western United Trading Company is concerned, except for the city of Ceylon, the entire vast colony is no different from before."
"Economically speaking, the income of our Western United Trading Company has not only not increased, but has begun to decrease; culturally speaking, it is difficult for us to promote our Ming culture. Only a few locals in Tianzhu are willing to learn our language and writing.
In terms of local governance, we still need to rely on local people to help govern."
"In terms of population, the growth rate of Ming people in various colonies has begun to slow down. Everyone is not willing to immigrate to overseas colonies and vassal people. Our population growth mainly depends on fertility, but this takes time. It's just
It’s a slow process, and there are no longer as many people migrating as before.”
"In terms of industry, it is difficult for us to develop industry like the Ming Dynasty. Although there is a large amount of cheap labor in the colonies, they are disobedient and have no cultural knowledge. It is difficult to teach them. They can only do some simple and basic tasks.
Sexual stuff.”
"We can't even do anything technical, because we can't recruit enough skilled workers like we can here in Daming. Even if the equipment breaks down, we need to find engineers from Daming to repair it."
"Our Western United Trading Company is pretty good, at least our island of Ceylon is still developing extremely well."
"The development of other colonies and vassal states is even more difficult."
"Like Ningguo, despite the good agricultural development in Ningguo, there are also a lot of slaves. You can make a lot of money every year by selling slaves."
"However, Ningguo still has many problems. King Ning has always wanted to build a railway from Delhi to Goa. However, it has been several years since the planning of this railway, and construction has not yet started."
"There are many reasons for this, but the main reason is that the development of Ningguo has fallen into a stagnant state. This railway seems to be unnecessary, and the investment in the construction of the railway is very huge, easily hundreds of millions.
Even Prince Ning couldn't bear to throw two pieces of silver into it."
"There are also some colonies, like some colonies in the East. They originally wanted to use the local Kunlun slaves. They thought they were an important labor force. They should make good use of them and give them the treatment of citizens, and give them seeds and agricultural tools.
, teach them farming and so on.”
"Who would have known that these Kunlun slaves are lazy and lazy. Not only are they unwilling to learn farming, but they often gather in groups to make trouble and demand more power and benefits. This also makes these colonies unstable and extremely difficult to develop."
"There are also some colonies and vassal states, because the number of Han people is too small, and there are too many slaves and local indigenous people. As a result, we were oppressed by the slaves and indigenous people, so that the Red Navy of our Ming Dynasty stationed in the Red Sea had to
Send out to help suppress the rebellion of these slaves and indigenous people."
"Many colonies and vassal states only built one city, but other places are far inferior to our Ming Dynasty."
"Whether the indigenous people of Tianzhu or the indigenous people of Africa, they are basically in a comfortable situation. They like to eat and are lazy, and are often unwilling to work. If you have something to eat today, you can eat it first. As for tomorrow's things, you can worry about it tomorrow."
"The nicer you are to them, the more they will behave like this. On the contrary, if you beat and scold them like slaves, they will do something obediently."
"So it is very difficult for major colonies and vassal states to develop now. The main reason is because there are too few Han people, so it is difficult to promote local development."
"In addition, after we Han people arrived in this overseas land, most of us were able to live a comfortable life like a small landowner, so we all became lazy. After all, we can live a good life just sitting down, and no one will die from exhaustion.
Hard work."
Zhu Benduan told Liu Da about the difficulties in the colony. In fact, he mainly told Liu Jin to let Liu Jin know the situation in the colony.
When the Governor of Ceylon holds the next election, he hopes that Liu Jin can support him so that he can be re-elected. There is no way, who can make the current Western United Trading Company ineffective.
Such a huge piece of land, a large number of industries, minerals, plantations, etc., can only bring dividends of hundreds of millions of taels to shareholders a year, which is obviously low.
"That's it~"
"Then why could the South African colony develop rapidly?"
Upon hearing this, Liu Da finally understood the current situation of the major colonies.
“Because of the policy of killing and expelling local indigenous people in the South African colony, and because the South African colony does not want male slaves, only female slaves, all the South African colonies can be said to be Han Chinese.”
"In the beginning, their development was slower because they did not have enough population, but the South African colonies were easier to manage because they were all Han Chinese."
"Without the existence of slaves, everyone would have nothing to rely on. They could only rely on their own hands to create a better life, thus maintaining the diligence of us Han people."
"Coupled with the extensive use of mechanization and the emphasis on industrial development, both agriculture and industry have developed rapidly, surpassing other colonies and vassals, and are developing better and better.
quick."
"While other colonies were still shepherding sheep, shearing wool, and growing cotton, the South African colony had already begun to set up textile factories, cement factories, and steel plants."
Speaking of the South African colonies, Zhu Benduan also sighed repeatedly. The South African colonies, which were originally like the Western United Trading Company, are now beginning to explode with strong stamina. They are developing rapidly and are mainly industrial. Unlike other colonies, which rely on raw materials and wealth.